Indigenous artists from the center of the Australian continent unleashed a wave of art production in the 1970s that has been described as a renaissance of the world’s oldest living cultures. A few masters of this unusual chapter of art history are assembled here. Each is known to use exuberant colors and visual conventions that may induce vertigo or a sense of displacement from usual perspectives.

In the hands of such artists, paint is put to a unique test—challenging our perception of how much a line, dash, or dot can convey. Their efforts offer a dynamic view of unexpected subjects.